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re stringent restrictions on when and how crew members can call in fatigued a responsibility that is thrust into pilots hands by the federal aviation regulations from now on colgan pilots and flight attendants will not be allowed to call in fatigued if they have had 12 hours of rest and can no longer declare themselves unfit for future duty i e calling tonight for tomorrow morning s flight to make matters worst those pilots who violate these new rules will now face disciplinary action in a recent article published in the buffalo news dan morgan vp of safety and regulatory compliance for colgan said that over the past two months the instance of fatigue calls with no valid reason for fatigue have increased to the point where frivolous fatigue calls are now the majority frankly i find that hard to believe there will always be in every profession a small group of people ready to abuse the rules out of sheer laziness but to accuse the bulk of those who called in fatigued of lying is arrogant and in all likelihood a gross exaggeration it is also not management s role to determine what a valid reason for fatigue is what they see on paper on a pilot s schedule does not necessarily reflect the actual level of fatigue one may experience the company might also be forgetting that a pilot who calls fatigued loses pay so where s the incentive for already underpaid struggling pilots colgan s decision is outrageous unsafe and simply another sign that the company aspires to nothing but scraping the bottom i am talking here about management not the pilot group which counts among its members a great number of fine aviators i have written much about fatigue in previous posts so i will not repeat myself since then however i have had to call in fatigued once my first such occurrence in my 3 years at this airline it was a tough decision but one that was justified i was just too tired to fly at the same time i felt less than pleased to leave the company one fo short and about losing pay but everyone from the scheduler who took my call to my chief pilot and the unions respected and never once questioned my decision and that is how it should be as long as the faa requires pilots to determine whether or not they are fit for duty airlines should interfere only if blatant abuses of the rules occur putting artificial numbers on what makes a fatigue call justified or not such as colgan s 12 hours of rest rule is asinine just because a pilot s schedule shows 12 hours of rest does not mean that is what the pilot gets some hotels we stay in are less than quiet and personal issues can rob one of sleep even in such a long period of rest also the nature of our schedules tends to interfere with our circadian rhythm making it sometimes difficult to get meaningful rest during overnights it is not the company s determination and i hope the faa sees this as an unacceptable affront to both crew members and passengers and a serious safety issue an airline should never intimidate its pilots into doing the wrong thing this is what led to 3407 s tragedy how soon we forget posted by capt wilko 8 48 am 8 comments tuesday october 27 2009 indian summer the early morning sky is still dark and the air slightly brisk as we roll down runway 20l in nashville my captain and i are both worn out and bleary eyed after a long day and much too short of an overnight over the horizon a thin sliver of red and gold spreads as we fly toward it on our way to washington we gain altitude rapidly in the morning air and within only moments the sun appears ahead of us bright and comforting to light up the whole sky it soon bathes the countryside below in its warm golden embrace and softly caresses my cheek like a familiar hand lost in the breathtaking beauty of the sunrise i suddenly notice that the mountains have gone from green to bright red and orange as far as the eye can see the rolling hills of tennessee west virginia and virginia appear to be ablaze in my side window i catch a glimpse of my face smiling back at me those beautiful warm autumn days those of the indian summer are upon us and what better vantage point to admire their stunning beauty than my trusty jet powered steed i am truly one of the fortunate ones this is my very favorite time of year pleasing to every sense there are of course the stunning vistas of autumn endless aerial palettes of hundreds of gradations of greens yellows oranges and reds neighborhoods dotted with explosions of warm colors placid lakes that seem to be on fire as their gentle waters mirror the magic surrounding them all these shades bring to mind the comforting foods of fall the apples and squash the warm pies and roasts that are so welcomed on those cooler days autumn also carries in its gentle breeze the comforting smells that transport me back to my childhood the distinct sweet scent of maple leaves remind me of forli the small town in northern italy where my grandmother lives i remember cycling through its streets with my mother and brothers amid a sea of dried leaves the familiar aroma of fires brings back cherished memories of school days in europe and weekends spent helping my parents in the back yard or playing with my brothers and friends to some the season is gloomy spelling the end of summer and especially in the northeast the beginning of the short dark and frigid days of winter a symbol of death but as i watched my son play in the leaves after a walk in the woods a few days ago his curious eyes completely mesmerized by the unique beauty of each leaf he brought to me i couldn t think of it as anything but a stunning season of renewal a few days after that crisp morning flight we returned to nashville as we crossed into west virginia the red mountain tops were covered in a dusting of snow it was early in the morning and i knew that once the rising sun had a chance to warm the hilltops the white coat would retreat and allow the brilliant colors below to resplend it did on our way back to washington a few hours later the ground below us was once again an endless field of fiery colors the days of the indian summer are short lived and like every year they fill me with the urge to enjoy each day to its fullest to cherish every warm second before winter rolls its cold blanket on us warm moments just like that beautiful autumn walk with ollie posted by capt wilko 4 36 pm 5 comments wednesday october 21 2009 another band aid once again fatigue rears its ugly head first a delta 767 mistakingly landed on a taxiway in atlanta in the wee hours of the morning at the conclusion of a red eye flight from brazil soon after a northwest airlines essentially delta now overshot its destination by 150 miles the northwest crew told authorities they were distracted while arguing over airline policy but the national transportation safety board is looking into whether or not the pilots might have fallen asleep at the controls without attempting to draw conclusions on the northwest incident it would not be the first time an airliner missed its destination because the pilots were asleep a simple google search will bring up several such examples in recent years it is very likely also that delta s error was due to fatigue both events were very timely as the federal aviation administration is now reportedly pushing to allow airline pilots to take controlled naps in the cockpit to curb the issue of fatigue according to the wall street journal the article which ran last week noted that unions support this move something that is unfathomable to me sleeping in the cockpit will simply not provide pilots meaningful rest and most likely will serve only to give airline management yet another tool the build impossibly long inefficient and exhausting schedules whatever rest they will allow during a flight they will take away from overnights and no doubt the airline transport association and the regional airline association are salivating over this possibility once more washington is trying to slap a band aid on what is a deep systemic problem that needs to be addressed seriously and reformed in a meaningful way the air line pilots association lauded the recent passage of h r 3371 a bill calling among other things for higher entry requirements to the airlines and changes in duty and rest times as momentous the bill a result of the crash of colgan 3407 in february may be a good first step as far as addressing qualifications but i could not find in its text anything concrete regarding what changes are proposed to curb pilot fatigue instead in my understanding the bill gives the faa 180 days to submit proposed rule changes which are to be enacted no later than one year after the passage of the bill in the context of this rulemaking congress is mandating the faa to look into matters ranging from the number of take offs and landing a day number of time zones to be crossed to rest requirement and rest environment as an alpa member i would like to share my union s enthusiasm for the airline safety and pilot training improvement act but am also dispirited to hear of such idiotic initiatives as controlled naps which sadly might just pass what truly needs to be done goes far beyond minimum rest should be raised to a firm 10 hours i e a number the airlines can t reduce the legal duty day should be shortened from 16 to 14 hours especially when the faa limits a dispatcher s duty day to 10 hours and airlines should be mandated to provide their pilots with two paid fatigue calls a year any additional fatigue calls could remain unpaid under the current system it is said that we do not get disciplined or penalized for calling in fatigued which is untrue a first officer earning 20 000 a year cannot part with any amount of his pay and like it or not this is a serious deterrent to declaring oneself fatigued i have also heard from colleagues who were told by crew scheduling when you can and cannot fatigue for instance a friend who has a very young baby at home was recently up all night with his child the day before a trip utterly drained he called in fatigue only to be told that you cannot fatigue from home we the pilots take fatigue seriously management simply does not their lobbies in washington do not like many others i had hoped that colgan 3407 would be a wake up call for an industry that has hardly reformed itself in the past half century with every passing year benefits erode schedules worsen and the relations between pilots and management grow increasingly bitter as a result many experienced colleagues have left the industry never to come back and fewer might be interested in joining our ranks which will make it very hard to attract applicants with an airline transport pilot certificate as congress now wants to mandate for a short while capt sully sullenberger captured the imagination of the general public and showed that airline pilots carry a tremendous amount of responsibility every time they step into that cockpit he also showed what pilots can do when pitted against very unfavorable odds what most of his non pilot admirers do not know is that sully lost his retirement and seniority when the overall more junior america west bought u s airways and that after decades in the business he was tossed around by management like a rag doll i had wished for the death of those colgan crewmembers and passengers to mean something and bring about badly needed change to make our profession safer and fairer but initiatives such as controlled naps only dash those hopes and make me worry that as long as the airlines and their lobbies are allowed to wield their influence inside the halls of congress the true scope of change will be very limited perhaps the time for re regulation has come posted by capt wilko 5 21 pm 5 comments wednesday august 26 2009 a great loss the day began with the news that ted kennedy had died while not completely unexpected in light of his health condition the news saddened me my wife actually came home from work this morning with tears in her eyes we both held kennedy in the highest regard even if he has been the subject of so much polemic any objective observer could agree that he had what very few on capitol hill have an utterly sincere drive to protect and advocate for the people of this country the every day men and women as opposed to the corporations and interest groups many vignettes illustrating that came out today there was the lady who called his office to complain about the deteriorating quality of her mail delivery service a week later as if by magic the problem was resolved or the group of massachusetts servicemen on their way home from iraq the government flew them to their base in indiana and provided them with bus tickets home and the agony of an 18 hour ride in order to save money some hero s welcome kennedy intervened and rightfully the men were flown home to devens air force base but more importantly to the country there was his unrelenting fight for fairness in the realm of social issues a member of the powerful and wealthy kennedy dynasty his interests may have laid elsewhere than in universal healthcare quality education for all and civil rights like so many others who were blessed with money and social status he could have basked in the glory of his brothers and enjoyed a comfortable unproductive life instead he devoted 47 years to the people of this country almost five decades spent fighting for what he believed was right and just what personal interest did he have in universal healthcare other than knowing that a responsible government should take care of its citizens how would he benefit from children receiving proper education or an increase in minimum wage sadly many people i ve spoken to only remember him for what happened in chappaquiddick many years ago and his affection for the bottle there was so much more to ted kennedy than that i always regarded him as a good man filled with empathy for others and a strong desire to give back for the fortunes that he was blessed with as many of his former opponents have noted kennedy was able to reach across party lines and was close friends with some of the highest ranking republicans he had a knack for pushing his issue as far as he could and compromise just enough to get an acceptable bill out unlike so many others he boasted a political spine kennedy was his own man back in october of 2002 for instance he voted against resolution 114 which granted president george w bush war powers against iraq he was one of only 23 to vote against it hilary clinton and john kerry who would later on campaign against the war sadly did not for political safety i had the pleasure to meet him several times in my previous career and like clinton and only a handful of others in washington he came across as genuine shame on fox while national public radio ran a day long tribute to kennedy interviewing many republican leaders such as sen orrin hatch who spoke emotionally about the good friend and colleague they had lost fox n...